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The New Mind Control

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To what degree are search engines, such as Google, able to influence Internet users’ perceptions? Senior research psychologist Robert Epstein details a series of experiments his team conducted to study the effects of biased search results on people’s opinions and political voting choices. Epstein’s well-explained findings, in turn, reveal the frightening implications of unregulated technology’s capacity to manipulate opinions on a global scale. getAbstract recommends this article to everyone interested in technology and social science trends.

In this summary, you will learn

How researchers tested the influence of search engines on user opinions,

What they discovered about the level of influence search engine rankings wield over users and

What the implications of their findings could mean for future elections.

About the Author

Robert Epstein is a senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology. He has authored 15 books and is the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today.

Summary

No one knows exactly how Google chooses to rank its search results, but it’s undeniable that most people choose to view the highest-ranked websites displayed for a given search query. That being the case, could search rankings sway an undecided user toward a politician or stance on a controversial issue...